Prince George’s County leaders back Greenbelt for FBI headquarters relocation

Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker wants to bring the FBI to the Greenbelt Metro station. Here he is at another of his county’s stations, in New Carrollton.
(Jeffrey MacMillan - Capital Business)

County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and Council Chairwoman Andrea Harrison co-wrote a letter Tuesday to Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator of the General Services Administration, touting Greenbelt for a consolidated headquarters for the FBI.

“We strongly believe that the proposed location at the Greenbelt Metro Station is a superior site that offers many outstanding attributes, including immediate access to Metro and the Capital Beltway, the ability to support a high quality consolidated, secure, office campus, and access to attractive retail and other amenities,” Baker and Harrison wrote.

Baker and Harrison also touted the site’s adjacency to colleges and universities, which might bolster the FBI’s workforce needs. “Prince George’s County is well prepared to support the FBI’s mission of protecting this nation from international and domestic threats,” they wrote.

There are multiple properties in Greenbelt that have at least 40 acres, the space the GSA has suggested may be needed for a headquarters FBI campus. Metro owns 78 acres, most of which is currently surface parking. The Agriculture Department also owns hundreds of acres outside the Beltway.

The letter (which can be read here in full) comes a week prior to the GSA’s March 4 deadline to accept proposals and ideas regarding where to build a new headquarters for the FBI, which wants out of its headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Prince George’s County has 15 Metro stations, more than any other jurisdiction, and although Congress has not approved a search for a new FBI headquarters, the FBI prefers a site with public transit access.

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